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AUGUST, 1878.]
BOOK NOTICES.
207
The women of Rajputâna, a represented by Colonel Tod in his Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan (see chapter xxiii. vol. I. pp. 6074.), maintain in more recent times the character of heroism ascribed to Vidul in this passage of the Mahdbhdrata. I give a few extracts. Vol. I. pp. 609r. (Madr. ed. pp. 523, 526, 528, 530, 537, and 543) :"C'est aux hommes à faire des grandes choses ; c'est aux femmes à les inspirer,' is a maxim to which every Rajput cavalier would subscribe, with whom the age of chivalry is not fled, though ages of oppression have passed over him. He knows there is no retreat into which the report of a gallant action will not penetrate, and set fair hearts in motion to be the objects of his search." P. 610 :-"Like the ancient Germans or Scandinavians, tho Rajput consults her in every transaction; from her ordinary actions he draws the omens of success, and he appends to her name the epithet of deví, or godlike." P. 613 :-"Nor will
the annals of any nation atford, more numerous or more sublime instances of femalo devotion than those of the Rajputs; and such would never have been recorded were not the incentive likely to be revered and followed." P. 614 :-" The annals of no nation on earth record a more ennobling or more magnanimous instance of female loyalty than that exemplified by Dewaldé, mother of the Binafur brothers," &c. P. 617-Dewalde says, 'Would that the gods had made me barren, that I had never borne sons who thus abandon the paths of the Rajputs, and refuse to succour their prince.in danger.'” P. 633 :-"The Rajput mother claims hor fall share in the glory of her son, who imbibes at the maternal fount the first rudiments of chivalry; and the importance of this parental instruction cannot be better illustrated than in the ever recurring simile, Make thy mother's milk resplendent,'" &c.
(To be continued.)
BOOK NOTICES. LA LANGUE ELA LITTERATURE HINDOUNTANTES EN 1877: shahadat, or Explanation on the Law of Testi
Revue annuelle. Par M. Garcin de Tassy, membre de l'Institut, professeur à l'école spéciale des langues
mony. orientales vivantes, président de la société asiatique, So. Some polemical works have also made their
The venerable M. Garcin de Tassy has again appearance, and the most important of them apinaugurated the advent of another year by pears to be the Khudt-i Ahmadiyah, or "Adissuing his Revue annuelle of the past. As the dresses of Ahmad," written by the eminent Sayyid first and great event was the Imperial Assem. Ahmad Khan, who some years ago published an blago of Dehli, some space is allotted to the de- English work under the title of A Series of Essays scription of the literary productions connected on the Life of Muhammad, and subjects subsidiary with it. The chief publications of the year are a thereto. This Urdu work, M. Garcin de Tassy canto of the Ramdyana of Tulsi Dâs, printed with thinks, has for its chief object to refute The Life the greatest caro and an accurate translation by of Muhammad of Sir W. Muir, which has been very Mr. F. S. Growse; the Adi Granth of the Sikhs well received, and of which a new abridged edition by Dr. Trumpp, consisting of cxxxviii. and 716 has just come out. According to Sayyid Ahmad, pages; the Grammar of Oriental Hindi by Dr. the work of Sir William is based on the recital of A. F. R. Hoernle; and a Hebrew Grammar in Waqidi, who, he says, is a much-esteemed author, Urdu by the late Dr. Warren. These appear to but undeserving of any credit-a somewhat have been the only works published by Euro- dubious criticism. peans, all the others being by natives, except East- The number of books, of all sizes and subjects, wick's Kaipar-náma-i Hind, which, however, is is as large as ever, and we must refer the reader only announced as being in course of preparation. desiring to learn their titles, &c. to the Revue
The Pandit Pyari LAI, well known by his itself, as there is no other work which summarizes numerous publications, has now issued a complete the publications of the whole peninsula. Besides Urdu translation of the Bhagwat Purdna in twelve the various notices scattered about in the Revue, skandas or parts. The Hakim Amanat A'li, Rais there are seven special lists, namely,-Ist, works of Saharanpår, has produced a History of the printed in the N.W. Provinces ; 2nd, in Lakhnau Khalifs-Tazkirat ulkhulafd--in Urdu verse, ac- and Oudh ; 3rd, in the Panjab; 4th, books lately cording to the Futůh ushsham of Waqidi and other published in Calcutta and other towns of Bengal ; celebrated works. The titles of three works uses 5th, in Bombay ; 6th, the works of Muhammad ful to Government servants are:-The Uçúl-j- Nusrat A'li Qaiçar; and 7th, the list of Musulmán akhláp-o-Qovánin, trenting on general principles of polemic works by the same. law, on civil tribunals, and on police; the Qánún-i-. Due notice is taken of independent native ruolim-i a'dálatha-i Hindi, or Code of usages in schools, such as the Aligarh College, Sir Salar the Law Courts of India, and the Sharh-i gánún-t Jang's Female College at Haidardb&d, and the Pat
. Madras ed. p. 521.
